Warhammer Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader - turn-based Warhammer 40k RPG from Owlcat Games

[InD_ImaginE]

By the current edition emprah is pretty much a "Chaos" gods too with SoB through faith being able to summon essentially warp demon/angel of fire thing I think in one of the latest sourcebooks?

 

[ArchAngel]

By the current edition emprah is pretty much a "Chaos" gods too with SoB through faith being able to summon essentially warp demon/angel of fire thing I think in one of the latest sourcebooks?

SoB were able to do that since at least DoW Soulstorm games. I would not call it latest sourcebooks unless latest means 10+ years :D

 

[CaesarCzech]

By the current edition emprah is pretty much a "Chaos" gods too with SoB through faith being able to summon essentially warp demon/angel of fire thing I think in one of the latest sourcebooks?

And he sort of "hateaccepts"it.

 

[Serus]

Could anyone summarize me what happened to the necrons when their lore was changed and why it is so stupid? It was mentioned on last pages 2 or 3 times.

 

[Jaedar]

Could anyone summarize me what happened to the necrons when their lore was changed and why it is so stupid? It was mentioned on last pages 2 or 3 times.

Things that are the same: the necrons used to be a short-lived race that asked the old ones to make their life less shit. The old ones refused, so the necrons decided to fuck their shit up, and succeeded. They did this by transferring into self-regenerating metallic bodies and just generally having hyper advanced tech. They're the only faction with proper FTL drives that don't depend on the warp for example.
In the old lore they accomplished this by making a deal with the c'tan stargods, but got betrayed which turned their race into soulless machines bent on slaughtering the living as tribute/food for their gods. Then they went into hibernation because ?there wasn't a lot of life left in the universe to kill?, and are awakening because life is once more teeming and it is disturbing their slumber.
In the new lore they defeated the c'tan after their betrayal and turned them into pokemon, and instead of being soulless they're just super eccentric space egyptians with godlike tech who fuck around for the lulz. They went into hibernation because ?? and are awakening because ??. They also got some really absurd supertech, such as a 3d map which is corresponds to the territory (ie, you cross out a planet on the map and it blows up in real life).

 

[Serus]

Oh well, so it went from stupid but fun to more stupid and also dull. Why I am not surprised.

 

[Dayyālu]

Oh well, so it went from stupid but fun to more stupid and also dull. Why I am not surprised.

Ah, hell no. Oldcrons weren't exactly stupid.

Their 3rd edition Codex had mechanical problems (the Necrons weren't that good on the tabletop and their troop selection was kinda shit, didn't help that being Marine Equivalent Armies everything built to annihilate 3+ worked fine on them too) but the athmosphere was excellent, much like, I dunnow, the old Beastmen Army Books. Warhammer always had stupid writing, but Oldcrons were essentially built as slaves to cosmic horrors, with their imprint even on Mankind (the Pariahs). I know that Cosmic Horror is over-used nowadays, but the Oldcrons nailed it, with their pitiful story of pain, betrayal and enslavement to something other.

Newcrons are badly thought Tomb Kings in Space so you can have "Dynasties" and they can be zany and be easier to write. After all, if they managed to let the Primaris get through, everything goes.

People will complain that Oldcrons were too simple: I'll complain that GW didn't know how to properly write them without falling into stereotypes. Dawn of War: Dark Crusade had an excellent Oldcrons portrayal, for example, but it was Relic.

 

[Spectacle]

The new Necron lore has one thing going for it; it makes it easier for players to personalize their army and create a story around it and its characters. This makes people more likely to actually buy a Necron army.

 

[Storyfag]

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade had an excellent Oldcrons portrayal, for example

Another one was in Xenology.

 

[Dayyālu]

Dawn of War: Dark Crusade had an excellent Oldcrons portrayal, for example

Another one was in Xenology.

Even the oldass Deus Ex Mechanicus from Andy Chambers was a goon 'un for Oldcrons portrayal. I'd even argue it was the baseline for the Mechanicus/Necron duo we see so much nowadays (because GW is all about the Cargo Cult).

 

[ArchAngel]

Could anyone summarize me what happened to the necrons when their lore was changed and why it is so stupid? It was mentioned on last pages 2 or 3 times.

Things that are the same: the necrons used to be a short-lived race that asked the old ones to make their life less shit. The old ones refused, so the necrons decided to fuck their shit up, and succeeded. They did this by transferring into self-regenerating metallic bodies and just generally having hyper advanced tech. They're the only faction with proper FTL drives that don't depend on the warp for example.
In the old lore they accomplished this by making a deal with the c'tan stargods, but got betrayed which turned their race into soulless machines bent on slaughtering the living as tribute/food for their gods. Then they went into hibernation because ?there wasn't a lot of life left in the universe to kill?, and are awakening because life is once more teeming and it is disturbing their slumber.
In the new lore they defeated the c'tan after their betrayal and turned them into pokemon, and instead of being soulless they're just super eccentric space egyptians with godlike tech who fuck around for the lulz. They went into hibernation because ?? and are awakening because ??. They also got some really absurd supertech, such as a 3d map which is corresponds to the territory (ie, you cross out a planet on the map and it blows up in real life).

They went to sleep for same reasons and they awaken for same reasons. Also they got their leader that has been exploring space beyond the galaxy and it is all probably connected with arrival of Tyranids.
Also they still do not have souls, but their personality from when they were alive got transferred as well to their digital form. 99% of them are still basically soulless, 40k version of undead armies.

 

[Irxy]

Could anyone summarize me what happened to the necrons when their lore was changed and why it is so stupid? It was mentioned on last pages 2 or 3 times.

Things that are the same: the necrons used to be a short-lived race that asked the old ones to make their life less shit. The old ones refused, so the necrons decided to fuck their shit up, and succeeded. They did this by transferring into self-regenerating metallic bodies and just generally having hyper advanced tech. They're the only faction with proper FTL drives that don't depend on the warp for example.
In the old lore they accomplished this by making a deal with the c'tan stargods, but got betrayed which turned their race into soulless machines bent on slaughtering the living as tribute/food for their gods. Then they went into hibernation because ?there wasn't a lot of life left in the universe to kill?, and are awakening because life is once more teeming and it is disturbing their slumber.
In the new lore they defeated the c'tan after their betrayal and turned them into pokemon, and instead of being soulless they're just super eccentric space egyptians with godlike tech who fuck around for the lulz. They went into hibernation because ?? and are awakening because ??. They also got some really absurd supertech, such as a 3d map which is corresponds to the territory (ie, you cross out a planet on the map and it blows up in real life).

They went to sleep for same reasons and they awaken for same reasons. Also they got their leader that has been exploring space beyond the galaxy and it is all probably connected with arrival of Tyranids.
Also they still do not have souls, but their personality from when they were alive got transferred as well to their digital form. 99% of them are still basically soulless, 40k version of undead armies.

I think they went to sleep due to heavy war exhaustion, probably predicting they are going to either loose the war or win but with too many sacrifices (considering their numbers are finite and their engrams can't be simply copy-pasted or something), which does make some sense in a 40k fantasy logic.
What doesn't make much sense is why they were left alone by the Eldar. The explanations I've seen are about Eldar being initially too busy with other wars and eventually with decadence and fighting necrons was too much of a hassle.
The story itself is not bad and is good for RP I guess, since it humanizes them and due to dynasties you can do whatever you want with them.
Yet what it did take away is the mystery, which does suck. So instead of the limitless army of space non-sentient terminators, controlled by some unknown powers with incomprehensible motives... we do get space mummy lords (probably gay) with robot armies, very butthurt & without any common cause. Which does sound a bit lame.

 

[Jaedar]

They went to sleep for same reasons and they awaken for same reasons

Don't just handwave it. What are the reasons?

I think they went to sleep due to heavy war exhaustion, probably predicting they are going to either loose the war or win but with too many sacrifices (considering their numbers are finite and their engrams can't be simply copy-pasted or something), which does make some sense in a 40k fantasy logic.

This makes no sense. They wiped the old ones, they had won the war. Going into hibernation just means your enemies can pick you off one by one while you stagnate (they can run full military production unimpeded, you're constructing nothing). The best explanation I saw (which is fanfic, haven't seen any hint of it in official sources) is that they utterly won the war, with the krorks and eldar being 0 threat, but that reality itself was so horribly scarred by the warp weapons deployed in the war that the necrons decided to timeskip so the rends could heal, but that they ended up sleeping for too long for whatever reason. The eldar aren't challenging them because they know they can't win (which is also why they put so much effort into trying to keep the tombs from awakening in the current day), and the krorks devolved into orks for lack of enemies.

The story itself is not bad and is good for RP I guess, since it humanizes them and due to dynasties you can do whatever you want with them.

If you're humanizing xenos in 40k you are doing it wrong.

 

[Spectacle]

If you're humanizing xenos in 40k you are doing it wrong.

Are you serious? This is a game where two of the main alien species are basically "upper class English with pointy ears", and "lower class English with green skin and bad posture".

 

[Serus]

If you're humanizing xenos in 40k you are doing it wrong.

Are you serious? This is a game where two of the main alien species are basically "upper class English with pointy ears", and "lower class English with green skin and bad posture".

But how many social classes England can have? Check-mate.

 

[Irxy]

This makes no sense. They wiped the old ones, they had won the war. Going into hibernation just means your enemies can pick you off one by one while you stagnate (they can run full military production unimpeded, you're constructing nothing).

It's the C'tan who won the war against the Old ones and only thanks to the Enslaver Plague, since prior to that they've been loosing (thanks to Eldar, kronks & other bioweapons of the Old ones), despite having necrons as cannon fodder.
You give too much credit to the necron. They defeated C'tan at their worst moment, when weakened by civil war (supposedly they've pretty much destroyed themselves at that point with only a few remaining) and a war with the Old ones. If they were that powerful anyway they wouldn't need necrons in the 1st place. If anything, the victory seems more Pyrrhic than decisive, and while the Old ones were gone, Eldars & others have been on the rise. Plus they believed the Enslaver Plague would do all the work for them in the lorg term.

 

[ArchAngel]

They went to sleep for same reasons and they awaken for same reasons

Don't just handwave it. What are the reasons?

I think they went to sleep due to heavy war exhaustion, probably predicting they are going to either loose the war or win but with too many sacrifices (considering their numbers are finite and their engrams can't be simply copy-pasted or something), which does make some sense in a 40k fantasy logic.

This makes no sense. They wiped the old ones, they had won the war. Going into hibernation just means your enemies can pick you off one by one while you stagnate (they can run full military production unimpeded, you're constructing nothing). The best explanation I saw (which is fanfic, haven't seen any hint of it in official sources) is that they utterly won the war, with the krorks and eldar being 0 threat, but that reality itself was so horribly scarred by the warp weapons deployed in the war that the necrons decided to timeskip so the rends could heal, but that they ended up sleeping for too long for whatever reason. The eldar aren't challenging them because they know they can't win (which is also why they put so much effort into trying to keep the tombs from awakening in the current day), and the krorks devolved into orks for lack of enemies.

The story itself is not bad and is good for RP I guess, since it humanizes them and due to dynasties you can do whatever you want with them.

If you're humanizing xenos in 40k you are doing it wrong.

You got Tyranids now as mysterious out of galaxy enemy. Also we do not know what Silent One wants. I think there are no books from his perspective?! We just know he was exploring outside the Galaxy.

 

[Irxy]

You got Tyranids now as mysterious out of galaxy enemy.

Nothing mysterious about the hive mind insect like swarm. Terrifying? Sure.

 

[Jaedar]

If you're humanizing xenos in 40k you are doing it wrong.

Are you serious? This is a game where two of the main alien species are basically "upper class English with pointy ears", and "lower class English with green skin and bad posture".

>Implying football hooligans are human.

I also haven't seen anyone make the claim high elves = posh people before.

 

[ArchAngel]

You got Tyranids now as mysterious out of galaxy enemy.

Nothing mysterious about the hive mind insect like swarm. Terrifying? Sure.

Of course there is. They are much more intelligent than it is know and nobody knows anything about their history or creation.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader Q&A – Owlcat on Addressing Beta Feedback, Improving Romances and Thanking Larian​

Alessio Palumbo•Sep 25, 2023 04:00 PM EDT






It's been a great year for roleplaying game fans thanks to the release of several great games, chiefly the long-awaited cRPG Baldur's Gate 3 (now in pole position for Game of the Year awards after a near-flawless critical reception), and Owlcat Games made it even better when it announced that Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader would launch in early December on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S|X.
Given that inXile and Obsidian have abandoned the cRPG genre, at least for the time being, their next projects focused on first-person action combat, Owlcat is definitely the most experienced studio after Larian. Their Pathfinder: Kingmaker and Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous games have been received very well on PC and consoles alike.

RELATED STORY Baldur’s Gate 3 Engagement Is Reportedly ‘Wild’ at 5+ Hours per Day on Average​

With Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader, the studio is set to deliver the first cRPG set in the grimdark universe created by Games Workshop. Ahead of the upcoming launch, I briefly chatted with Alexander Mishulin, Creative Director at Owlcat Games. Topics ranged from addressing the community's feedback obtained through beta tests, providing more varied romances, and thanking Larian for Baldur's Gate 3's role in expanding the cRPG genre.



Let's begin with the preparation phase before battles. Is it always available or only in certain situations?
It's mostly available. Only when you are stepping into an ambush will you be unable to take the preparation phase, and you will be forced to fight in the positions you were in. But there aren't many of these scenarios in Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader, maybe one in ten or even one in twenty.
I have a question regarding the rule set. You've previously made the Pathfinder games and adapted that rule set. Now, you are adapting the Rogue Trader ruleset right for this game. Can you speak to the differences in adapting these two different rulesets from tabletop to the videogame format? Also, what kind of changes did you make for Warhammer 40K Rogue Trader?
Sure. It's actually the approach to the adaptation is different. With those two Pathfinder games, we were striving to be as close to the tabletop experience as we possibly could, while in Rogue Trader, we mostly took inspiration from tabletop rules.
The skills are kind of the same. Some abilities have similar names, but all the mechanics inside are our own, and one of the reasons for that is we have to have a very long progression for the characters. The Rogue Trader system is not very rich in terms of abilities, spells, and everything, so we had to add more elements to provide more builds for the characters and more synergies between different characters. So, the approach is different for these games.
I know that you've had a beta test a while ago. What kind of feedback did you get from the community, and what will you implement based on their advice in the final game?
We got a lot of feedback because a lot of players played it. We got a lot of praise and a lot of suggestions. I can give you a couple of examples. We had mixed feedback about the space battles. Not all the rules were transparent for the players, and some of the battles seemed repetitive.
We are making an additional bunch of tutorials to cover all of the space battles to slowly introduce players to the mechanics. The idea behind them is kind of naval battles, so you have to align broadside with the enemy's and things like that. You also have a bunch of abilities. Enemies will act differently, depending on who they are. Pirates are a little bit sneaky, while Chaos is very fanatical and unpredictable. You have to adapt your strategies depending on your enemy. We are introducing even more differences to those enemies as well to be more understandable but less repetitive.
We are also making a pass for our items because of the feedback and because we felt that our item progression is not as great as it is. So we are making a pass to introduce more items with interesting powers and distribute them through the game, allowing even deeper build customization because a lot of these unique weapons and items will have their own abilities that work well with certain characters and certain builds.
Of course, there's also a huge bunch of bug fixes and changes on particular occasions, in particular dialogues where a character could be reacting to something.
Will the game launch in early access, or are you planning a full game launch right away?
We are not looking into the early access model for Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. In our opinion, the previous tests made with those players who bought the Founder's Packs allowed us to get enough feedback and improve the game to the point where it's ready.
You've recently announced the co-op mode, a new feature for your games. Can you tell me how that's going to work?
I cannot unfortunately because, for now, we're just saying that it will be present in our game. But no additional details right now. Sorry!
I know the game is also coming to consoles simultaneously, which is great news. Can you confirm that gamepad support will also be available on PC on day one?
Yes. Internally, we are already play testing and playing Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader with controllers. There are still some tweaks and turns and we have to update the tutorial to provide hints on the gamepad mode. So, it's still in the final stages of production, but it's very playable with the gamepad.
I think the previous Pathfinder games were quite moddable. Is this one going to be moddable as well?
We as a studio definitely understand how important mods are. Right now, it's hard to compare the final result with the Pathfinder series. The team is discussing this topic, and there is a possibility of additional support.
The elephant in the room is the incredible success that Larian is having in the genre with Baldur's Gate 3. What are your feelings about it? Do you think there will be more players looking for other CRPGs? What's your take on this renewed interest in the genre?
Exactly. We're really grateful to Larian and Baldur's Gate 3 as the number of players interested in cRPGs is growing and expanding into a larger, more mass market direction.
We hope that when players are finished enjoying Baldur's Gate 3 one time or two times, they will be looking for new experiences. And it's great for the genre as a whole, not just for our game, because there are many great cRPG experiences. Probably, those players who enjoyed Baldur's Gate 3 will be finding new cRPG games to enjoy, which is great.
One of the main advancements of Baldur's Gate 3 was its abundance of high-quality cinematics. Do you also have many cinematics in Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader?
We have more cinematics than in our previous games, but not as much as those in Baldur's Gate 3 because they have enormous production value.
Fair enough. Another thing that made it stand out from the rest is the amount of romantic relationships. I know romance is also possible in Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader. Can you talk a bit about that part of your game?
Yeah. It's challenging to write a romance in the world of Warhammer 40K, where there is only war. We also tried to look at romances from different directions this time.
For example, a romance with one of the characters could go in a couple of different directions. It could be something closer to a political dynasty marriage where you just have this arrangement because it is convenient for you and this character.
But you can also play a little bit different. It is more difficult to do and to move off of and it starts from the same position. But slowly, feelings emerge, and characters become more involved with each other and understand each other better, and it grows not into this dynasty marriage but into a full-fledged romance with all the twists and turns and everything. So you can expect some twists and unexpected things in the romances.
Can you talk about the recently announced release date?
For our previous game, we had to move the release date a couple of times. We didn't want to do that in this game, so we tried to be really careful and understand when it could happen according to our development schedule.
Thank you for your time.

https://wccftech.com/warhammer-40k-...dback-improving-romances-and-thanking-larian/
HERE IS THE FUCKING CITATION FUCKED HEAD LOVELY Infinitron

 

[Tyranicon]

Oldcrons were just terminators with a different backstory.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

We have more cinematics than in our previous games, but not as much as those in Baldur's Gate 3 because they have enormous production value.

I playing wrath DLC and they're really spice up things with the cinematic camera shot.. It's kinda off putting going from Base to DLC stuff.

 

[ArchAngel]

We have more cinematics than in our previous games, but not as much as those in Baldur's Gate 3 because they have enormous production value.

I playing wrath DLC and they're really spice up things with the cinematic camera shot.. It's kinda off putting going from Base to DLC stuff.

I found it more interesting that they basically made their own system that is only inspired by RT rules. So we can see if they are decend game system designers or they need established systems to carry them. RT tabletop players are surely not happy with this.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

So we can see if they are decend game system designers or they need established systems to carry them

yeah, that's gonna be interesting to see. I didn't played the beta but i heard that they improved a ton on the encounters and made all Classes feels useful , outside of Adapt.

RT tabletop players are surely not happy with this.

I legit didn't heard a single person complaning about the changes..